Promoting entrepreneurship among informatics engineering students: insights from a case study

Abstract

Universities seek to promote entrepreneurship through effective education approaches, which need to be in permanent evolution. Nevertheless, the literature in entrepreneurship education lacks empirical evidence. This article discusses relevant issues related to promoting entrepreneurship in the software field, based on the experience of a 15-ECTS course. This course seeks to instil in the students the recognition of the need to reconcile technical and business visions, organizational and commercial aspects, most of which never addressed previously. A series of semi-structured interviews made it possible to obtain relevant insights about the teaching-learning process underlying this course and its evolution over a 7-year period. Materials related with this course have been analysed, namely guidelines produced by the teachers and deliverables produced by the students. This article discusses the dimensions that were identified as fundamental for promoting entrepreneurship skills in the field of software, namely teamwork, project engagement, and contact with the market.

Reshaping engineering learning to promote innovative entrepreneurial behavior

“…Consistent with the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE), "engineering careers have become increasingly collaborative, multidisciplinary, entrepreneurial, and global, and as the pace of change of technology has accelerated, the expectations for engineering education have expanded" (Jamieson et Lohmann, 2012). Education institutions are held responsible for preparing professionals with the right set of competencies and, thus, should allow students to develop skills to meet expectations by the industry and provide students with competitive advantage in the market (Fernandes et al, 2017). Fernandes et al (2017) and Luryi et al (2007) report a growing promotion of initiatives to stimulate entrepreneurial attitudes and competencies among universities' engineering students, as entrepreneurship relates to the creation of something different with (economic) value.…”

“…Education institutions are held responsible for preparing professionals with the right set of competencies and, thus, should allow students to develop skills to meet expectations by the industry and provide students with competitive advantage in the market (Fernandes et al, 2017). Fernandes et al (2017) and Luryi et al (2007) report a growing promotion of initiatives to stimulate entrepreneurial attitudes and competencies among universities' engineering students, as entrepreneurship relates to the creation of something different with (economic) value. Herein, entrepreneurial competencies are understood as higher-level characteristics involving skills and knowledge that enhance abilities to accomplish something through the use of resources (Man et al, 2002;Rasmussen et al, 2011;Gümüsay et Bohné, 2018).…”

“…When it comes to entrepreneurship education, Arasti et al (2012) and Guzairy et al (2017) state that traditional methods are less effective in encouraging entrepreneurial attributes. On the other hand, active learning focuses the responsibility of learning on students, assisting them in learning new skills and reflecting on what they have learnt, being more suitable in the context of entrepreneurship education (Fernandes et al, 2017).…”

Evaluar la competencia “Innovación, Creatividad y Emprendimiento” en asignaturas del área de la Mecánica de los Fluidos. Caso de estudio en Grado y Máster

“…Aunque en un principio, estos conceptos pueden ser asociados a temáticas empresariales, el trinomio definido anteriormente esta asociado a cualquier ámbito de la vida social y profesional. Por tanto, la sociedad necesita de gente con un espíritu emprendedor (Fernandes et al, 2017), la cual innove soluciones a los problemas que presente la sociedad, emprendiendo ideas que conduzcan a crear nuevos productos, servicios y/o propuestas que mejoren a las existentes.…”

Entrepreneurship in relation to contemporary concepts of education (language - english)

“…However, professional literature on entrepreneurship education often lacks empirical evidence for this effort. Fernandes et al (2017) describe the educational approaches to promote entrepreneurship in the field of informatics. Within the course, he seeks to instil students with the knowledge of necessity to bring organizational aspects into line with commercial aspects in the decision-making of technical and business vision.…”